Italian Mandolin

One of the happiest confluences in music history occurred in Italy in the mid- and late-1800s:

The mandolin emerged as the people’s instrument, the favorite for playing Italian Folk songs;

Naples became home to a golden age of songwriting;

performers at the Paris Exhibition of 1878 catalyzed the spread of MandolinMania across western Europe and the USA.

As a result, there was a Golden Age of Italian mandolin music: Neapolitan Mandolin was now a style as well as an instrument, a style in which great Italian songs were rendered on the mandolin as Serenades; and composers, virtuoso performers, and luthiers/makers elevated the instrument to new artistic heights.

Duo-Style, in which the mandolinist renders a tremolo melody and a harp-like accompaniment at the same time, is often attributed initially to American performers between 1895 and 1920, but its roots are really in the Italian Classical Mandolin tradition: Leone (orig. Leoni) referred to the picking pattern as “Arpeggio No. 1” in his method book from the late 1700s; Italian-born Leopoldo Francia apparently coined the term “Duo-Style” in 1895, seeking to expand upon the Serenade style of playing by adding a countermelody or obbligato to the tremolo melody and block chords.

Evan J. Marshall uses the Serenade/Neapolitan style, Duo-Style, and a combination of the two when crafting original arrangements of songs, including Italian songs and arias from the 1800s, Popular songs of the last 100 years, and Christmas songs, carols, and hymns.